District Sleeps Alone Tonight
by sea kelp
Summary: when fear shows up on your front doorstep with antennaes, glowing yellow eyes & a key to your heart, then you know you're screwed to hell & back · yuffiekairi


**DISTRICT SLEEPS ALONE TONIGHT :**

A lot of us have our own fears, y'know?

It's usually the normal stuff. We're afraid of thunderstorms and heights and death. We're afraid of losing our friends or growing old or getting sucked into a big black orb of dark nothingness. Usually fears are tolerable. It'll pretty much be something you'll steer clear from, and from there, there won't be any problems. Some fears are just downright moronic. Most are perfectly understandable. Understandable and reasonable, and sometimes, even cute.

Aw, don't act like you don't know what I mean—you would always read those corny, fluffy romance novels that you'd steal from Aerith's beside table, right? It's something a romantic couple would fret over—the girl would be terrified of swimming but the boy will always help her. He'll be there to hold onto her and comfort her and stick around until all is through.

Not that boyfriends usually have the patience to do those kind of things, I think. I know none of the boys here would try, but the point is that it's cute. Absolutely adorable. The 'I-want-to-foofin'-jump-you!' kind of adorable. Heck, it might even be sexy.

I already produce masses of sexiness though, so I don't need any cutesy fears. In fact, I can't be having any fears. I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie, and ninjas have no fears whatsoever!

Hey, stop laughing! What about you, hm? I'd have to say that you were the one with those cutesy fears, I guess. Yes, you Kairi, oh Princess of Heart. With your pure intentions and endearing hilarity and amazing personality, and no, it is practically impossible for me to end my sarcastic praise, and—fine, fine, I'll stop! Point is, you were adorable. With your fear of non-attacking Requiems. Oh, yes indeed.

Heh, now that I think about it, you'd get freaked about everything besides Requiems. Like, for example, staying alone in the house all by yourself. You'd hate sleeping there, all by your lonesome, but when you would get the nerve to ask, Leon would just insist you stay there. The Hotel wasn't any better, and besides, the Third District wasn't that much loaded with Heartless compared to the Second District.

I should know. Still do, actually. The place is still loaded with Wyverns. I hate those birds with a smoldering passion.

You'd be terrified of going to Merlin's, too. While I poofed straight across the pond with super ninja stealth, you'd still be on the first stone because "The rocks move too fast, Yuffie!" and I would have to take my time to jump every rock with you. Then just as you were jumping to the next stone, the thing would slip right from under you, and KA-BOOM!

I'm telling you, that stone was afraid. Either slip out of your reach or be jumped on by a fat, ugly redhead. That rock's pretty smart, y'know.

Now, don't give me that look! Did you see that tsunami you caused? The rock had a right to be scared! And besides, I saved your life. Because, you know, that's the job of a ninja, and ninjas don't have any fears whatsoever. And it's not my fault you can't swim properly, dorkus maximus.

Hey, I don't care if you grew up on an island or if it was too dark for you to see properly. Stop making up excuses.

Well, speaking of you pathetically drowning in sorrow, remember the first time I ever took you to the Gizmo Shop? Squall was with us too, y'know, trailing behind us like the little emo he was, sulking and whining and yelling and—yes, why I do know that drowning is totally irrelevant to this. Now shush, you're messing up my story.

The exact moment you walked in there, your expression was beyond amazed. You reminded me of Sora in a way, with your bright blue eyes and soft, pink lips slightly agape in awe as you stared at the place in admiration. Sure, it was really pretty, with those bright colors and designs and textures and such. I mean, I'd always get sidetracked by simply sauntering by them, but the way _you_ watched those amazing, utterly distracting gears turn round and round was stunning. Sure, they were pretty much made to distract you with the intensity of a washing machine cycle, but I didn't think you'd be completely mesmerized by their movements. You were really deep in that little noggin of yours, y'know? So when you started screaming your heart out just as those Requiems popped up in a flash of sparks, I didn't really expect you to run out the door with the speed of one of those bird-brain Wyverns.

I hated you for a moment just because of that connection, but forget I ever said that.

Because of that once in a lifetime spectacle of quick agility, you basically sent the door flying smack into Squall's face. Oh, but don't bother apologizing for that. He just got a broken nose and a black eye. Nothing a strong Curaga or two couldn't fixed.

It's been like that for a long while, you know, with you being all worried and fearsome and all. It was maybe a week or two already. Sora still hadn't come back yet, and you were anxious, always asking about him every now and then because you thought he might've crashed the gummi ship or he might have gotten sucked into a black orb of absolute nothingness—possibly into a different world in which he'd be eaten by man-eating pirates. And may I say, you had quite an active imagination (but then again, Sora is Sora and it was totally possible for that to happen at any chance).

Alongside being all worrisome and motherly, you were a little bit disturbed about everything else around you. I'd be beyond amused, watching the way you'd shiver at every Heartless that turned the corner, grabbing onto my arm as I instantly obliterated it with a single toss of my weapon. It was like you were the damsel in distress, and instead of the annoying little ninja girl, I was the hero. I was the one saving you from your silly little fears, because I'm the hero who has no fears herself, right? The Fearless Hero Yuffie! And I must say, that was truly a better title than the Great Ninja Yuffie (even though you and I both know ninjas will forever own).

I guess you can say I started enjoying your fear—in a good way, I mean.

A few more days on in, and you were still jittery about Sora and Heartless and everything a Princess should be jittery about—but when you were actually jittery enough to make Squall whip out his gun blade on you, I supposed it was time for a break, just to get Sora and darkness and all that off your mind. And what other break would be better than to take you on a pleasant stroll around town on the Yuffie Express?

Well, then again, it really wasn't that pleasant, huh?

"Yuffie!" You screeched at me as I shoved you straight into shallow water upon arrival of the Secret Cavern. Considering I never took you there, I thought you'd be truly interested in being within a crystal induced cavern, instead of being interested in screaming at me about your soaked attire. I ignored your relentless screeching as I dragged you towards the end of the short tunnel, chattering animatedly about the bee-ee-aay-**yuu**-tee-ful mural at the end, our sneakers squeaking against the wet surface. And I swear on Aerith's cooking that what you did next scared the heck out of me. "NO, YOU RAPING, SADISTIC FREAK!" You suddenly screamed out of nowhere, snapping your wrist away from my grip as if I had burnt you with an intensely blistering fire.

Eh, so you didn't exactly say that. You really said, "NO, YUFFIE! STOP!" As if I burnt you with an intensely blistering fire. ...Okay, I also might have incidentally scratched you with my kunai that was oh-so coincidentally hidden underneath my wristband, but it's not like there was any blood!

Looking straight at your face as soon as I checked the scratches on your wrist, I instantly saw fear in your eyes—and just as instantly the little chibi Yuffie residing in my mind started doing a little dance in a cheerleading uniform. Who's little chibi Yuffie wouldn't? It was THE fear. The adorable 'I-want-to-foofin'-jump-you!' kind of fear. Except, there were a lot of things off about this foofin' adorability. There weren't any sad, sapphire eyes or any pink, pouting lips. Your cheeks weren't flushed and you weren't hugging yourself and you weren't biting your lip and jeebus, there were a lot of things off. _Everything_ was off, with two downcast eyes utterly unreadable, a pair of pale lips, a face drained of any color and a stance that was all wrong and all frozen and all emotionless. And as much as I hate to say it, considering how awfully cliché I will sound, it was like you saw a ghost or something. It just wasn't the fear I've grown to love on you—it was real, all shining and bright and obvious, and I think you were actually _scared_, with you finally letting a whimper past your lips and then your eyes were suddenly full of tears. I think I might've taken it too far in some totally unknown way or whatever, because you basically just _freaked_. Like, ultimately freaked.

That's when it stopped being so cute, I guess.

You'd slow me down after that day. You'd whine and cry whenever I had to drag you out of the house—which, by the way, you had not gotten over about even then—whether I was hopping stone to stone with you to Merlin's or if I was inspecting the bell tower just to make sure no Defenders made any dents in it. Which they had, those damned Heartless.

It was beyond annoying. It was like you had Squall's gun blade stuck up your butt, with you being jumpy and suspicious of everything that was around you. Like, 'no joking around' jumpy and suspicious. You'd screech every time something unfamiliar popped in front of your eyesight, whether it was the glint of my kunai in the moonlight, or the movement of a shadow in the corner, Heartless or not. Soon enough, you were forever screaming bloody murder every time you had to walk within any of the Districts, even if I was right next to you, my hand holding on tight to your freezing one. All in all, you'd either be scared stiff and silent, or you'd be busy crying hysterically over nothing—so much weeping and so much silence that you hadn't been able to acknowledge my looks of irritation and disapproval and _anger_. Serious pissed-off-ninja-syndrome. Soon your fears of silly old Heartless and lame-monkey-butt darkness were just completely laughable and completely stupid—no longer was it cute or adorable or even somewhat tolerable. You were so paranoid and mistrustful of everyone and everything and crap, even mistrustful of _me_. Y'know, Yuffie Kisaragi, your hero who protected you from everything, while Squall was too busy slaughtering Heartless, while Aerith was too busy healing everyone who was hurt—while your dumb boy crush was away saving everything else but you. It just had me that upset.

I mean, sure, I had promised Sora I'd take care of you as he did his little hero thing—off to save the worlds while I was left behind with a pleasant girl gone psychotic. But I was allowed to take a vacation, right? There was only so much a hero can take care of.

"Just wait here, okay? I'm going to get some stuff from  
Merlin's and come right back, Kai, don't you worry."

But taking a vacation can lead to important things being missed, huh? I swear to the gods that I've never meant to hurt you. Who would've known that the Heartless would actually have had the nerve to be there, ready and willing to rip open your chest and eat your heart out? Willing to leave your empty carcass lying on the cold stone, guts soaked with dark red and dark red smeared all over your hair and your face and your body, and ugh, it was the most repulsive thing in this galaxy. Aerith's scream echoed throughout all of Traverse Town and Sora's eyes bulged out of his eye sockets like you wouldn't believe. Even Squall had a reaction—his gasp was loud enough to be heard by all of us.

It was that bad, Kairi.

So here I am now, talking to you as if you were still alive, when I'm the reason as to why you're lying in a goddamn coffin, buried six feet out of my reach. Talking to you as if you'd still care about what I have to say (because we all know that you probably don't) when I was the one with the responsibility of being your hero—I didn't even have the patience to help you or to hold you or comfort you or damn well stick next to you. I left you laying there in that stupid cavern to let you drown in your fears and I didn't even bother to reach out a hand to even attempt to pull you out. Because of me, everyone might as well be all done and dead and eaten by Maleficent's flunkies, and, and _fuck_, you know what? I'm so sorry. Sorry for my selfishness and sorry for destroying your perfect fairytale and I'm so utterly, freaking sorry for patronizing you and ugh, I've done everything wrong, haven't I?

I guess your fears weren't really stupid after all.


End file.
